Category: Football (Soccer)

Football (Soccer) News

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European football: Sørloth hits four-minute hat-trick for Atlético Madrid

  • Atlético striker completes treble in first 11 minutes
  • Kane scores as Bayern lift Bundesliga trophy

Alexander Sørloth scored four goals inside 30 minutes in a 4-0 home win for Atlético Madrid over Real Sociedad.

The Norwegian forward completed his treble in the opening 11 minutes, the earliest ever in the competition, before adding a fourth goal to seal the rout on the half-hour. He opened the scoring in the seventh minute and took just three minutes and 57 seconds to wrap up his hat-trick.

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Antonio Conte is a title machine but the Awkward One leaves Napoli’s fans cold | Jonathan Wilson

Murals of McTominay in Naples? Don’t rule that out with the volatile manager who never stays long despite serial success

There’s always a Tottenham exception. Since leaving Siena in 2011, since he got his first break with a club that had a realistic chance of winning trophies, Antonio Conte has won league titles with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter. Going into Sunday’s matches, with three games remaining, his Napoli lead Inter by three points. In a decade and a half he has won a trophy with every club he has managed, apart from Tottenham.

Maybe Tottenham simply aren’t a club that had a realistic chance of winning trophies. Certainly it’s not as familiar to them as it is to Juventus, Chelsea and Inter. Napoli were Serie A title winners the season before last. Conte led Tottenham for 17 months and although he has the fifth-best win record of any Spurs manager, although he took them to fourth in his first season, having replaced Nuno Espírito Santo in the November, and although they were fourth when he left in March 2023, by the end the situation was so toxic as to be unsustainable.

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Frank’s Brentford ‘dreaming’ of Europe after Kevin Schade sinks Ipswich

Thomas Frank said Brentford were dreaming of Europe after Kevin Schade’s first-half header handed them a fourth straight Premier League win, against relegated Ipswich at Portman Road. The winger angled in Bryan Mbeumo’s corner over goalkeeper Alex Palmer in the 18th minute, his fourth goal in three games, as the Bees’ 1-0 victory strengthened their claim to eighth place and a possible spot in next season’s Conference League.

The outcome of the FA Cup final will yet determine whether or not that place opens up but with a highest top-flight finish in 87 years also on the line, Brentford face a pivotal run-in to a potentially historic season.

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Everton’s ‘immense’ Michael Keane puts big dent in Fulham’s European hopes

David Moyes lauded Michael Keane’s display after the defender scored what could be his last goal for Everton as they dealt a major blow to Fulham’s European hopes. The visitors recorded a first Premier League victory since 12 April when Vitalii Mykolenko equalised and Keane’s header put them in front after Raúl Jiménez’s opener in the 17th minute.

A rare error by the goalkeeper Bernd Leno allowed Beto to grab a quickfire third for Everton before Fulham were denied the chance of a second as penalty appeals for handball were turned down by VAR in stoppage time.

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Bournemouth 0-1 Aston Villa: Premier League – as it happened

Ollie Watkins settled a tight and occasionally testy encounter at Dean Court, as Villa kept their Champions League hopes very much alive

3 min: Semenyo takes another vicious swipe at the ball. This time it’s an overhit cross upon finding himself in space down the left. Goal kick.

2 min: It was a strange kick-off routine, Cook rolling the ball back to Semenyo, who juggled it in the air before hoofing a Garryowen into the Villa box. Martinez claimed the high bouncing bomb without any drama.

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Ruben Amorim expects ‘fight’ among players for Europa League final place

  • ‘They will push each other’ for places against Tottenham
  • Manager will be careful with Mount and Maguire

Ruben Amorim expects Manchester United’s training sessions to be intense as his players compete for a place in the Europa League final against Tottenham.

United face Spurs at San Mamés in Bilbao on Wednesday week after a 7-1 aggregate victory against Athletic Bilbao. In three meetings with Spurs this season, including one in the Carabao Cup, they have been beaten three times.

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Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

There are high stakes at St James’ Park, City could yet nab second and will Forest cope with playing on the front foot?

Antonee Robinson has been one of the best full-backs in the league this season. He flies up and down the left flank, defends well and whips in crosses. However, the Fulham defender was not at his sharpest during his side’s defeat to Aston Villa last weekend. He found it difficult to contain Morgan Rogers and his crossing was not up to its usual high standards. The concern is whether Robinson, who had missed Fulham’s previous game, is in peak physical condition. It has been a long campaign but Marco Silva needs the USA international to be ready to go when Everton visit Craven Cottage on Saturday. Robinson’s raids are a key part of Fulham’s attacking set-up. Jacob Steinberg

Fulham v Everton, Saturday 3pm (all times BST)

Ipswich v Brentford, Saturday 3pm

Southampton v Manchester City, Saturday 3pm

Wolves v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Bournemouth v Aston Villa, Saturday 5.30pm

Newcastle v Chelsea, Sunday 12pm

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Amorim praises ‘perfect’ Mount for driving Manchester United into final

  • Mount scores twice in home win over Athletic Bilbao
  • 7-1 aggregate victory sets up final against Tottenham

A delighted Ruben Amorim praised “perfect” two-goal Mason Mount, as Manchester United swept past Athletic Bilbao and into the Europa League final against Tottenham, with four late strikes in 19 minutes.

Ruben Amorim’s men trailed 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao following Mikel Jauregizar’s first-half opener at Old Trafford and led 3-1 on aggregate before Mount equalised on 72 minutes of the second leg. Goals from Casemiro and Rasmus Højlund, in the 79th and 85th minutes followed before Mount scored again in added-time’s first minute.

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Bodø/Glimt 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (1-5 agg): Europa League semi-final, second leg – as it happened

Tottenham Hotspur booked their place in the Bilbao final with an assured display in the Arctic Circle

1 min: Bodo nearly gift Spurs a chance within the first ten seconds, a loose ball across the back, but Gundersen block-tackles Solanke, who was hoping to bust clear down the inside-right channel. The hosts breathe again.

Pennants are swapped, coins tossed, hands clasped … and Bodø, 3-1 down after the first leg, get the ball rolling.

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Manchester United 4-1 Athletic Club (7-1 agg): Europa League semi-final, second leg – as it happened

Athletic’s first-half strike put the wind up United, but four goals in the last 18 minutes put them through to the final, in which they’ll meet Tottenham

Taking a closer look at that United team, I’m not surprised it’s unchanged. They might’ve played Luke Shaw at left-centre-back and sent Yoro over to the right – that’s probably a better option than the one they’ve gone for, in Victor Lindelof – but Amorim is, as you would, easing Shaw back in slowly. If they make the final he’s still fit, having played the games in between, the manager has a decision to make.

Also going on:

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Sunderland desperate to turn power back on as Coventry playoff awaits

Régis Le Bris’s side have lost five in a row before meeting with Frank Lampard’s resurgent Sky Blues

Sunderland’s players are unlikely to forget Monday 28 April any time soon. Régis Le Bris’s squad were in Portugal, settling into a pre-playoff training camp when the lights went out as one of Europe’s biggest power cuts plunged the Iberian peninsula into chaos.

Although Le Bris made light of the inconvenience and emphasised that the Algarve sunshine had been “re-energising” no one is quite sure whether he has managed to fix his team’s own worrying electrical faults.

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‘Shackles off’: Bristol City and Vyner set for Championship playoff clash

Zak Vyner joined the club aged eight and as an ever-present this season is vital to hopes of getting past Sheffield United

When Bristol City’s players reconvened on Monday, there was only one place to start in the team meeting: those scenes of euphoria at Ashton Gate after the club secured a Championship playoff spot for the first time in 17 years, and the search party for Yu Hirakawa, who, as the captain Jason Knight puts it, was getting thrown about on the pitch as teammates waited in the dressing room for him to be retrieved. Liam Manning shared with his squad images and videos of supporters to underline the wider meaning, and footage of the Japanese winger crowdsurfing. “It got a laugh from the lads,” says Manning. “He was in a state of shock … I asked him: ‘Would that happen in Japan?’ He said: ‘No, never.’”

Now City, who entertain Sheffield United in the first leg of their playoff semi-final on Thursday, are hoping to enter uncharted territory. The Robins have not played in the top flight since May 1980 and Manning has heard the line about Bristol being the biggest city not to host Premier League football “a million times”. He is not the only one. The defender Zak Vyner, the longest-serving player who joined aged eight, was in the crowd at Wembley, aged 11, for the playoff final against Hull City in 2008, when Dean Windass volleyed in to break City hearts.

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